Steve Zolotow
Steve “Stevie Z” Zolotow is part of the old school poker players. In fact, he even states that he has been playing poker longer than he can remember.
Steve originally had goals of becoming a big time actor early in his life. He found it to be a hard way to make a living. While he was pursuing his acting career, he found out that he had a knack for gambling. It wasn’t long there after that he decided to give up on his acting and pursue professional gambling. Ever since he made this decision in the 1960’s, he has been a professional in all forms of gambling.
Even though he didn’t start out playing poker, he learned that to be his passion. In his earlier days, he focused mainly on Backgammon and Sports Betting, and has had success in both. He had always played poker during his lifetime, however, in the 90s he started focusing mainly on just poker.
Steve was one of the original players in the Mayfair Poker Group when he lived in New York. This was no ordinary home game. The players consisted of Steve Zolotow, Howard Lederer, Erik Siedel, Dan Harrington, Jay Heimowitz, along with some other not as well known players. They would play no-limit hold’em almost every day, and then discuss the game with each other at the bars at night. Howard Lederer always talks about this time in his life saying he would leave broke 6/7 days, but always learning something new. This is one of the main reasons that Steve and the other Mayfair gang are as successful as they are today.
Steve learned much playing at Mayfair, and when asked what he remembers he says:
After a session, we often discussed poker in neighborhood bars until closing. These discussions resulted in a vast improvement in the quality of our play. [From http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/steveZolotow.php]
This has also led Steve to understand how he makes his money. Some people make the mistake saying they would rather play against good players than bad, but Steve’s comment on his favorite poker game is the best I’ve heard; “One with weak, wealthy opponents.”
Since Steve became serious about poker, his focus has been mainly cash games. He has formed a very solid and disciplined style, and many think of his as one of the most solid players today. Lately, he has started to play more tournaments, and has many cashes but few wins. He has over 30 cashes in the WSOP and 2 bracelets to his name. As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,600,000.
Steve has been featured on some of the major poker shows on television today, including the World Poker Tour,
FullTiltPoker.net
Global Poker Challenge and Poker After Dark.
Steve still loves playing poker and gambling in general, and he has been doing it since he was 10 years old. He now says he would like to start becoming a poker commentator for television shows and hopes to write “the great American poker novel.” You can expect to see Steve more and more as he continues to improve his tournament game.
Coming Misspellings: Steve Zollotov, Steve Zolotov, Steve Zallotow, Steve Zallotov
Learn more about Steve Zolotow at Full Tilt Poker.
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